This book follows the stories of several factions fighting for the throne of
Westeros. The rightfulheir of a deceased king, a princess in exile, a
king who wants to secede and split the kingdom, as well as several other
characters that orbit them. There are no good and evil faction as is
usually the case in this kind of fiction. You can feel sympathy for anyone
regardless of their actions. Take Ser Jaime Lannister, for example,
in the first two books he was presented as a ruthless warrior who is very much
in love with his own sister. So much, in fact, that her three children are
his. In this book we get to see his point of view and learn his reasons,
how he loved her, the horror that made him take the life of the man he was sworn
to protect and earned him the nickname Kingslayer.

The Hound, Sandor Clegane, whom we came to dislike, then like and dislike
again. Lady Catelyn Stark, who is a devoted mother grieving for the
death of her husband and younger sons, yet showed us a very different face in the
first book when told her husband's bastard son that it shoud have been him who
fell of the tower instead of her son.

Jon Snow, Lord Stark's bastard son continues his adventures beyond the Wall
that delimits the realm of man, captured by the wildlings that made him ride
with them against his sworn brothers.

Arya Stark, a ten years old girl adds a couple of kills to her record, in her
quest to return to her family.

Magic has now a more pronounced role that in the past books, manifested in
the red priests. Followers of a god that grants them immunity against assassination
attempts and the ability to bring the dead back to life, but combat is
predominant as the most common form of death.

Book Info: A Storm of Swords. George R. R. Martin, Spectra. ISBN
05533811709